


When You Hurt More Than You Thought

by FoxyTurttle



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Cultural Differences, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt feelings, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Slash, confused feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-26
Updated: 2014-06-26
Packaged: 2018-02-06 08:32:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1851436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoxyTurttle/pseuds/FoxyTurttle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Contains spoilers for Windblade #3.<br/>Rattrap is not very happy with recent events. Or older ones. And Starscream does weird things because of it.<br/>Honestly, this can either be romance or bromance. For either relationships. Read as you will.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When You Hurt More Than You Thought

**Author's Note:**

> I woke up this morning with this in mind. Thought it'd share.  
> Not beta'd so sorry for mistakes.

If someone asked him why he was in beast mode, curled up in a dark, remote corner, he'd snip at them that a mech was allowed to take a nap. But to himself he didn't feel like lying.

Rattrap was sulking.

"And for damn good reasons too", he grumbled to himself.

He'd just come back from putting the alien in her cell and decided not to investigate the sudden explosions from the prison.

He didn't feel like getting his furry butt roasted, especially with those shiny new guards at disposal. Let them take care of it.

"Let Starscream take care of it", he spitefully said. See if he gave a damn after what happened earlier.

He knew the jet to be ruthless, he knew better than to expect anything else with his reputation and the saboteur had known his fair share of violent, underserving bosses in his day. Yet he couldn't help it.

He was hurt.

Or more exactly he felt stupid. Stupid for thinking he'd be treated better than others, stupid to let himself fall into a false sense of security because of that "kinship" Starscream had talked about - "You and I are the same", whatever -, stupid for being surprised when he was striked. And all of that hurt.

He never knew how to cope with these things. His old quarrels were settled by either shouting or shooting. Biting in one particular instance...

_Vermin._

He shook his head clear of a toothy maw spouting literary stuff he never really cared about. Now was not the time to think about that mech. The time was when he was fendered beyong caring for his reputation. He tended to get into...feelings when the subject was broached. Right now, though, he was sober and firmly ignoring the painful pang the memory - _fire, scales colder than usual, a spark lifting up to oblivion_ \- brought up.

"The rest is silent", he bitterly let out.

"What?"

Rattrap jumped up in surprise, turning round to face the reason for his sour mood. And its trademark smirk.

"Oh, I'm sorry", the jet said in an unapologetic voice. "Did I startle you?" He looked smug too.

Rattrap had a bit of a temper and some history of talking back at superior officers. The only reason he hadn't given Starscream a sample of it was because of his begrudging respect for him. Even from the other side, he couldn't have helped but find the Decepticon SIC pretty awesome in his way. Not that he'd ever admitted it to anyone, and certainly not to the current ruler of Iacon. He probably would have showed the jet some of his insurbodinated history right there, but he suddenly felt very tired. He wasn't sure if it was because of that stupid memory - _making a salute, dissolving the body atop a mortuary tower_ \- or because he found himself much more affected by the situation than he thought, but he really didn't want to deal with his boss right now.

So he rolled back into a ball and ignored him. Another thing he knew better than to do. 

He expected being angrily kicked in the furry butt he was graciously offering, he expected hands to grab him by the scruff of the neck so he could properly be shaken about, but once again Starscream decided to surprise him.

There were hands falling on him, rapidly, kinda painful in their brusque motion, but no blows were given. Instead, the rat found himself hoistered up in the arms of Iacon's ruler, crushed against his chest in a death grip. Having secured his package, the jet walked back down the corridor he came from and turned left. Rattrap couldn't see his expression, shadowed as it was.

He barely had the time to wonder what in the pit was going on when Starscream spoke up.

"Listen, I reacted, okay?"

The rat's ear twitched. What?

"That- that _alien_ wasn't lying", the jet went on. "About the bombing. Or the outages. It made me realize I probably had it all wrong. And I don't _like_ being proven wrong."

Silence followed. Rattrap wasn't sure what to think. If this was an apology of some sort it was a pretty shoddy one. He had been just as surprised by the lady's accusations and damn confused by Starscream's decision. He really hadn't deserved that punch. In fact, he felt even more slagged off after the jet's confession: so he really just had been his punching bag.

He turned his pointy nose away from his boss. Witty remarks would probably get him hit again, but silence seemed to put Starscream at a loss. Good. Gave him a bit of leverage with this one.

He really should have known better than to expect something logical (like being dumped on the floor or sneered at) and not be surprised by Starscream's odd behaviour. Still, it threw him off when the jet's face found itself on the back of his little rat neck. 

Burrowed would be a better word, he guessed. For all of his metallic skin, his beast mode tended to be a little more malleable to give the illusion of a furr. The Cybertronian equivalent of something soft and cuddly.

"I was _angry_. I _reacted_ ", he said again, his voice muffled by the rat's body. He said that as if it made it justifiable. 

' _Maybe for 'Cons_ ', Rattrap mentally sniped. ' _But from where I'm from, you don't hit the ones on your side_ '. He was entitled to his little tiff and made it clear by a snort.

"She's gone now", the jet bit back in reply. "She broke out with her friends and now I just..."

The grip surrounding his little rodent body tightened, becoming a bit painful but nothing unbearable. He'd almost called it posessive.

No. Not posessive.

 _Desperate_.

Maybe for 'Cons...

It suddenly came to the rat how weird this planet had become. Cybertronians came from every corner of the universe, bringing back the culture they'd soaked in or built over the millenias and clashing it against everyone's. Would it really be that far-fetched to put the Autobots and Decepticons in the same boat?

People with their own way of life having now to live with others who think differently.

That whole thing with the alien? That was very normal for 'Cons. If Starscream hadn't showed any signs of violence before, it was probably because he was so aware of public opinon. It wouldn't have been well accepted for him to physically admonish his mechs. In the basement, though... No one was there to see, no one was there to judge. At least no one that really mattered. 

So it had unleashed. As naturally as it had felt for the jet. And he hadn't thought the better of it until later when he faced another failure, when the one he could blame had fled, when he went to find Rattrap and was denied.

The rat briefly wondered if he'd came to let out some more steam.

No. He had expected violence because of his rudeness, the jet himself had not been threatening upon sight.

So what? Did he come for his delightful company?

Rattrap glanced up and down the corridor they were currently in. The _empty_ corridor they were currently in. Just like all the ones they'd gone through. Just like all the ones in this building. He wasn't sure if it was the dark, or the silence, or just this damn bizarre situation, but he suddenly felt how crushingly lonely this place was.

How crushingly lonely Starscream must be feeling.

His company it was then. And this whole thing must be the jet's best attempt at an apology. Because for how naturally it was for him to hit a subordinate, he was clearly aware that it wasn't for others. That it wasn't for Rattrap.

It was almost touching in a way, knowing the egotistical jet.

And the rat had to admit, for how bad the apology was, for how regularly he'd have to remind Iacon's ruler that he can't just treat him that way, it felt nice to be this wanted. Even out of desperation. 

He'd never had that before - _a flash of an ugly, sharp-edged blue face grinning down at him_ \- or at least not that explicitly.

Truth being told, Rattrap was just as alone now.

So, his nose still pointing away from his boss, he finally uttered a response. One as noncomital and as stern as possible:

"Whatever."

It was, however, accompanied by a little rat's body relaxing against the chest it was pressed to and by a little rat's head resting on the shoulder of Iacon's ruler.

The grip never loosened for the reminder of their strange little walk, which lasted until the first rays of morning light.

**Author's Note:**

> My original idea didn't incorporate Dinobot, it came naturally as I wrote this.  
> In the absence of an IDW!Dinobot, I just decided that Z'verei had some similar events to Beast Wars.  
> I'm very happy to have been able to pay hommage to one of the best death scenes in a children's carton as well as a very interesting friendship. I always wanted to delve a little more into Rattrap's feelings on that event. He does strike me as someone who would push deep down all the hurt... At least until he can't anymore.


End file.
